Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Monday afternoon, stomach pains began making 39 year old April Barnum of Orange, California uncomfortable. Later on that night April decided the discomfort merited an emergency room visit. Doctors submitted Barnum to abdominal X-rays. Those present were astounded with the results of those tests.

Barnum, who weighs in at 420 pounds, and her live in boyfriend Walter Scott Edwards were told that they must go immediately to UCI Medical Center for prenatal testing. The examination of the hefty Barnum concluded that April was carrying a seemingly normal nine month fetus. "Usually you can tell if you are pregnant, but with me I couldn't tell." Barnum pointed to her stomach. She is so large that no one-including her boy friend suspected a thing.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Although headlines are rampant with the suggestion that one in four women (between the ages of 14 and 59) is infected with HPV, the real shock of the study, released in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was somewhat buried. Lost in the panic surrounding the high HPV-infection rate is a footnote that should cause even greater concern for Gardasil advocates. Only 3.4% of the women studied had an infection that the new vaccine protects against. While many are touting the epidemic as justification for mandating the shots, the reality is that Merck's vaccine still leaves women vulnerable to a significant number of HPV strains, including those that cause 30% of the cases of cervical cancer. This news should give pause to Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA) as he considers whether or not to sign a bill that would require the shots for schoolgirls. In an interview, Kaine said that he may try to amend the bill to include a more "generous opt-out provision" for parents. However, as FRC has said all along, the burden should be on the government--not parents--to convince Americans about the need for the vaccine. FRC is contacting Gov. Kaine and asking him to reassess his idea of expanding the opt-out criteria and instead promote an opt-in measure that would affirm parents' rights. In the meantime, legislators should ponder the greater cultural crisis of experimentation and promiscuity that created the epidemic in the first place. Along with the option of vaccination, states should educate children on an even better way to fight HPV--abstinence and monogamy.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

ABC's World News led Tuesday night with an unusual spin, one favorable to conservatives: the survival of a baby born in Florida last October just 21 weeks and six days after conception, the least time ever spent in the womb by an infant who has survived. Anchor Charles Gibson teased: "A tiny miracle that raises big questions in the debate over abortion." – Newsbusters

Monday, February 19, 2007

The upcoming TIME magazine (Feb. 26) cover story, “The Abortion Campaign You Never Hear About,” reveals one of America’s best kept secrets. Heartbeat International President Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., said she is grateful that America’s first weekly news magazine with a circulation of more than four million has decided to feature the life-saving work of America’s pregnancy resource centers.

“Heartbeat International pregnancy centers are providing a level of care that guards the health of women facing an untimely pregnancy,” said Hartshorn. “We are working to protect the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing of each woman that comes to us for help.”

“Close to 80 percent of post abortive women have said they would have given birth if they had received support and encouragement, but most receive threats and hostile opposition to a possible decision for life,” said Hartshorn. “We want to be that support that allows them to welcome new life as a gift.”

Heartbeat International, founded in 1971, is an interdenominational Christian association of more than 1,000 pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, non-profit adoption agencies, and medical clinics in 47 states and 37 countries.

Heartbeat International provides Option Line (800-395- HELP), a joint venture with Care Net, to connect callers with the local pregnancy center for the help they need. Each month Option Line responds to approximately 20,000 women and provides a center locator system and Instant Messenger online at www.optionline.org

Sunday, February 18, 2007

A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school. He didn't want his mother to walk with him.She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe. So she had an idea of how to handle it.She asked a neighbor, Mrs. Goodnest, if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn't notice her.Mrs. Goodnest said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed.The next school day, Mrs. Goodnest and her little girl, Marcy, set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor boy he knew. She did this for the whole week. As the boys walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week.Finally he said to Timmy, "Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?"Timmy nonchalantly replied, "Yeah, I know who she is."The friend said, "Well, who is she?""That's just Shirley Goodnest," Timmy replied, "and her daughter Marcy.""Shirley Goodnest? Who is she and why is she following us?""Well," Timmy explained, "every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, 'cuz she worries about me so much. And in the Psalm, it says: 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life', so I guess I'll just have to get used to it!"

Friday, February 9, 2007

It's incredibly sad that the mother of Anna Nicole Smith said that drug usage probably let to her daughter's sudden death. We won't know until a Florida medical examiner does the autopsy but those closes to her have said Anna Nicole "had too many drugs." A mother should't have to see the death of her child.